I gave up yesterday (8th March), slapped my patch on first thing and suffered terribly for about half the day. The patches do really help take the edge off but it's the habit that's difficult. I found myself looking at the clock around the times of my usual fag breaks. After dinner was incredibly difficult as the first thing I normally do is light up. However, come 9 o'clock the nicotine devil on my shoulder convinced me I really needed a cigarette, so I gave in and had one. Afterwards I felt truly awful and so disappointed in myself. Although I smoke a lot more in a 'normal' day I felt that all that hard work had been for nothing.
So here I am again, back to Day one! I'm going to try really hard not to give in so easily. Off to the pub after work tonight which will be a real challenge however I may have to stick to the soft drinks to make sure I don't fall foul again.
Good luck to everyone, it really is a big challenge but I know once you learn to ignore the nicotine hungry voices in your head it will get easier.